Reporting for the Tacoma News Tribune, Ian Demsky has the scoop on the State Lottery’s new “enhanced” marketing plan to boost impulse sales of scratch tickets by at least 20 percent, and I’m truly impressed with the expertise of his sources:
Informed of the promotion, one gaming critic called using such tactics during an economic downturn “cruel.”
“They are looking to create compulsion,” Seattle blogger David Goldstein said last week. “That’s how the industry works.”
And I’m not just pulling that critique out of my ass. As I’ve written on numerous occasions, games like slot machines and scratch tickets are scientifically designed to create compulsion—hence the refreshingly honest name of the scratch ticket vendor designing and testing the Lottery’s enhanced marketing plan: “Scientific Games.”
I’ve no doubt that the expanded retail displays, the 48 new scratch ticket games and their seductive second chance feature, were carefully designed in consultation with behavioral psychologists, so as to specifically enable problem gamblers and exploit their weaknesses. Problem gamblers may comprise only 5 percent of their customers, but they can produce over 50 percent of the gambling industry’s profits. This is no secret, and like any business, the gambling industry has always catered to its best customers.
So what’s the problem?
Goldstein, a blogger who has advocated against gambling expansion, said the program makes sense – if the state’s primary interest is to maximize profits.
“But it’s the state,” he said. “In the end, its purpose is to provide for the welfare of the citizens. The lottery is at cross-purposes with itself.”
Again, I’m not pulling this stuff out of my ass. Indeed, the Legislative Declaration that prefaces Washington’s gambling statutes is quite specific:
The public policy of the state of Washington on gambling is to keep the criminal element out of gambling and to promote the social welfare of the people by limiting the nature and scope of gambling activities and by strict regulation and control.
Notice that there’s nothing in that opening statement about maximizing state profits. Nor should there be. The social and economic costs of problem and pathological gambling are simply too high.
Problem gambling is a medically recognized addictive behavior associated with a much higher incidence of other addictions, including tobacco, alcohol and drugs, as well as other dangerous behaviors. And even the lottery’s own problem gambling study suggests that scratch tickets often serve as a gateway to other forms of gambling. So why should the state spend money to promote behavior that harms the welfare of its citizens?
It shouldn’t.
The people who stand to profit the most from this enhanced marketing plan are retailers, and the shareholders at New York based Scientific Games, certainly not the customers, and not state taxpayers, who typically see only 20 cents on the dollar flow back into state coffers out of the more than half billion dollars of revenues the State Lottery takes in annually.
Gov. Gregoire did the right thing in 2006 by instructing the State Lottery to scrap plans to market toward teenagers. She should once again remind lottery officials that they are not in the business of maximizing revenues at any cost.
Goldy, I defy you to try and get my eighty-seven-year old mother-in-law away from a slot machine at the Emerald Queen Casino, particularly if it’s a “hot” machine. She’ll fight like a wolverine to keep her seat at the one-warmed bandit! She’s particularly fond of “Cops and Robbers,” so get out of her way if she’s got a mind to play that slot!
But seriously, personal responsibility comes into play here. If people are willing to put their money into a slot machine, well, that’s their business. We can’t be the nanny to everyone with an urge to waste money.
1 Well, golly gee whiz…then we ought to be able to let the alcoholics and drug abusers make their own decisions, right?
@2,
Yes, that’s right. They make their own decisions as it is now. No one can stop being an alcoholic or a drug abuser unless they choose to do so.
BTW, there’s really no difference between an alcoholic and a drug abuser: drugs are drugs, whether the drug is alcohol or cocaine or whatever.
Babe Ruth’s baseball records are in question, as he was using beer as a performance enhancing drug.
Well, maybe beer worked for him. I suspect he could have done a better job without a beer hangover, but that’s just anecdotal evidence coming from personal experience.
hah. i know a public elementary school in kng co. that runs a weekly lottery for its students. the prize is a book. the kids get tickets from teachers for compliant behavior. pathetic policy.
I agree with Goldy – the state should not deliberately target the vulnerable who don’t have income – that is like putting a beer stand outside the AA building.
Notice that the gambling supporters in this state are rightwingnuts like Dory Monson – who claim to be religious but have no problem with cutting people off of health care to appease their rich backers tax cuts.
WWJD? Certainly not like those so-called religious right wingers who don’t care about the poor and less fortunate.
Uh wait, Goldy, you’re quoting from RCW Chapter 9.46, which has to do with the Gambling Commission and regulation of gambling; whereas your topic of discussion, the state lottery, falls under RCW Chapter 67.70, which contains no legislative declaration at all and has an entirely different purpose: Making as much money for the state from human frailty as scratch and lotto tickets can possibly produce.
One thing to be said in favor of the Lottery Commission and its activities, though, is that compared to other states at least here gambling profits go for public benefits like education, instead of into the pockets of the Mafia.
Rog–
Excellent catch on our Goldy.
Better correct that post Goldy…it appears you are pulling it out of your ass!
I’ve always had mixed feelings about the State Lottery. They publish odds…so folks gamble knowing the risk. If they do so beyond what they can afford, they are stupid, desperate or more like both. On the other hand, a recession creates a desperate environment.
Since many of the compulsive gamblers Goldy is concerned about pay little or no taxes, perhaps this is a way to get them to participate in funding government. That way they can feel better about pissing away money on ridiculous odds. They can say,
“Look Goldy, I’m paying something for all the services I suck up!”
@10 What, exactly, did I “catch”? The fact that we have a schizophrenic state government that tries to protect our citizens from gambling with one agency, and rob them with gambling run by another agency?
Perhaps the implications of this irony are too subtle for your goat-addled mind to grasp, Cynical. The real meaning of this has flown over your head like a monarch butterfly caught in a jet stream, so to speak. So, I’ll explain it to you.
What the Lottery Commission’s efforts to exploit the vulnerabilities of gullible (and usually poor) Washingtonians demonstrates is that WE NEED TAX REFORM!!!
Yes, that’s right, and I’ll shout it from the rooftops, when a state government has to stoop this low to fund something like basic education, it can mean only one thing:
WE NEED TAX REFORM!!!
There’s something fundamentally wrong with a tax system that makes poor people pay 17% of their income to state and local governments while rich people pay only 3% of theirs. And it’s even clearer proof of the fundamental wrongness of our tax system — and the wrongheadedness of opposing tax reform — when state and local governments layer on top of this lopsided tax system additional exploitation of those least able to pay by preying on their gambling compulsions.
Gambling, of course, as a means of paying the government’s bills is much beloved by Republicans. That’s because it extracts even more money from the poor than our regressive tax system standing alone, which translates into rich freeloaders having to pay even less than their already ridiculously skimpy share of society’s bills.
After all, it was none other than Tim Eyman who tried to seduce the public into replacing property taxes with slot machines. (It should be noted that, apart from its regressiveness, predatory nature, and immorality, Eyman’s scheme was also impractical due to his wildly inflated revenue projections.) This sort of civic irresponsibility is exactly the kind of hash that our very own Mr. Cynical loves to support, in lieu of a responsible approach to civic needs, such as a fair distribution of tax burdens.
But then, what can you expect from a goatfucker?
Great to hear that the state isn’t afraid to pile more burden on the poor!
Thought For The Day
Yes, there are a few thoughtful Republicans, and the party as a whole is poorer and less prosperous because of the obtuse unwillingness of the rest to listen to them. Here’s an example:
“The American people sent us to the woodshed. And when you go to the woodshed, the best course of action is to sit there, be quiet, and figure out why you’re there and what you can do about it.” — GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander, quoted in Time magazine.
The context of this quote is an article about President Obama’s first 100 days, which observes that the president “has been lucky in his enemies, a reeling Republican Party that lurches from gimmicks to hissy fits …”
Good editorial on tax reform up at the Spokesman Review.
correctnotright wrote:
I agree with Goldy – the state should not deliberately target the vulnerable who don’t have income – that is like putting a beer stand outside the AA building.
Is the State now embarking down the path of protecting individuals from making “bad decisions”?
What about food commercials and fat people?
Alcoholics and beer commercials?
Where does the madness end? The Dems hammer away at the Republicans trying to “legislate morality” and then engage in the same behavior?
I guess it all depends on whose morality is being legislated.
I’m surprised that Mr. Klynical hasn’t pointed out that, per his favorite measure of all things Obama, the Rasmussen Polls Presidential Approval Index, President Obama’s approval rating is soaring. Last week it was at +2, it’s now at +5!
-heh
Good catch, Steve. Now for what’s important: What did you play? For whom?
State Senator Obama and Illinois infanticide …
@17 I played bass (Gibson EB-0), sometimes pulling double duty, bass and Hammond/Leslie. One band, the third I was in, was the house band at a place called the African Hut, the old Chalet Tavern on Rainier. That was 1969 and 1970. There’s probably an I-90 overpass there now. The lead singer was a black guy, Jerry, who could do a badass James Brown imitation, singing and dancing, so we covered mostly JB songs. We also did some east side gigs. Some of those places, Mercer Island, Bellevue, I don’t think some of those people had ever seen a black man before. We were all so fucking drunk and high back then I didn’t even know what the name of the band was, although I thought I did. The drummer is still a best friend and when we talk about it, we still argue about what the band name was. That scene from the movie Back to the Future – the band coming out of a van with a cloud of smoke – that was us. Another movie scene, the Blues Brothers beer tab being more than their pay, that was us too. I about died laughing at those.
I’ll tell you about the other bands another time.
Ahhhh … Have a James Brown tune with me at this very moment. He’s the master. (And he’s lookin’ good on Alaska.)
Double Duty: Manzarek style? Playing the Hammond/Leslie with your right hand, and the bass line with your left?
… we still argue about what the band name was …
That means scamming iTunes is pretty much out of the question …
@20 Nah, one or the other. I had a Leslie 900 back then that I could use for either Hammond or bass. Didn’t Ray have a bass keyboard he used?
@21 “That means scamming iTunes is pretty much out of the question …”
Indeed it is!
I thought Jack Bruce was God, not Clapton.
Silly bassist … everybody knows Jack Bruce wasn’t God. Lenny Bruce was God.
(Yes, Ray used a keyboard bass.)
So many dieties to worship, so little time.
fun facts
More from the pantheon …
Goldschmuck says: “But it’s the state,” he said. “In the end, its purpose is to provide for the welfare of the citizens…”
Since when? The state’s purpose is to PROMOTE the general welfare, not PROVIDE for it. No wonder lefties like you love Washington’s nanny-state.
So many deities to worship … (this collage is called “hip-hop rap gods” … but there’s too little time to find out what it all means …
@27 That’s it, the 900. Two piece. I wondered after posting if I’d remembered the model number correctly. It had a silver pre-amp stomp box that I could plug the bass into that also accepted the Leslie multi-pin cord.
@28 Mmm, B3’s galore. My Hammond back then was just an L-100. Not as nice as an M3, nowhere near as nice as a B. I have a B3 now though, with a Leslie 122R. Not a scratch on either one of them. I found the B3 on Ebay, of all things, for sale out of Gig Harbor. It hadn’t been wired for a Leslie so I knew it had never been on the road.
@30 Hmm, I must have some filter setting that needs changing – I got a big, bold “Forbidden” come up on the screen.
@32
No filters here and I got the same thing.
Mega millions is my income tax. But I get to choose what I pay.
Cripes Goldy, every study out there concludes that the lottery, especially scratch tickets, soaks the poor. Roger above, and you typically, miss the point. The point is that the Democrats have run this state for 25+ years and depend heavily on the scratch tickets to fund their programs.
Grow some balls and come out against the lottery if you truly give a rip about how “the state” gets its revenue.
Politically Incorrect and correctnotright above clearly miss the point as usual:
Heaping lottery guilt on Republicans makes no sense. Democrats have run this state for decades and have presided over a continual expansion of the lottery. This expansion continues (as described in Goldy’s post). All it feeds is the general fund, not “education”. The majority of the money comes from the poor. And you lefties use this as another excuse to criticize Tim Eyman? Give me a break.
zip–
The Gregoire-lead Democrats avoid talking about the change in tax structure in terms of tax revenue increase or tax revenue neutral…for obvious reasons.
They will obviously be trying to set this at “peak bubble levels” or even MORE!!
How intellectually dishonest is that?
An income tax design to generate revenue at levels experienced at the peak of a massive, unsustainable bubble.
If there is any organized fight against this massive and deceitful tax revenue increase, it will fail.
Perhaps if I spell dieties correctly, and use photobucket …
(and thanks for the good trippin’ trip down memory lane)
Superb comments @35 & 36. Statements so cogent, clear, and concise that even a Rabbit can understand them.
@38 Eh, you probably just picked up on my own misspelling.
Those people look like they have an attitude! And I bet some are dead – an east coast, west coast thang.